


Escape

by 7years



Series: 7 years of Septober drabbles [7]
Category: SF9 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:14:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27242536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/7years/pseuds/7years
Summary: They are going round in circles. Seokwoo's sure of it.
Relationships: Baek Juho | Zuho/Kim Seokwoo | Rowoon
Series: 7 years of Septober drabbles [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1953925
Comments: 5
Kudos: 6
Collections: Septober 2020





	Escape

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #7 of Septober 2020: Roar

The sequence is always the same. The misty blue room, the orange room with the sun, the pink room with the low ceiling, and then the long, black corridor.

“I think you’re right, Seokwoo.”

And now they’re back in the blue room. For the third time.

“We’re going around in circles,” declares Inseong.

“But we’ve only walked straight!” Juho exclaims, looking around the room in bewilderment. Seokwoo thinks it’s strange too, but he can’t find it in himself to be surprised anymore. This is just another trick of this wicked maze.

“We must be trapped in some kind of loop.” Inseong suggests, touching the wall nearest to him with his palm. He hums an affirmative noise before turning around to face the room and speaking a string of unintelligible words while the mist thickens around them. It’s looking more like smoke now, threatening to smother them, but a flick of Inseong’s wrist makes everything dissipates. Including the walls.

The whole room evaporates into thin air, revealing the actual room that was behind it and possibly all the other rooms all this while. They’re in a vast circular chamber that’s higher than it is wide. The dark stone it’s carved out of gives off a claustrophobic feel despite its sheer size. It feels like the wall is caving in. The ceiling glows a warm yellow and it appears to be moving, like a field of golden flowers swaying in the wind.

“That’s our culprit,” Inseong states when he looks up.

Juho huffs in acknowledgment. “Should’ve known it would be fairies.”

The ceiling stirs violently before it scatters, turning from one moving mass into hundreds of little balls of light. And those lights are descending towards them in a menacing swarm. This is so unlike the fairy behaviour Seokwoo knew. “I thought fairies are supposed to be helpful and kind,” he says while bracing himself to shift.

“Not where I come from,” Juho replies in disdain. “And certainly not here either.” He throws his arms out and up and a great gust of wind rolls out to throw the fairies off their course. The ones that are thrown into the wall turn into brown leaves and float down harmlessly. But there are still hundreds more behind them, and they don’t sound too happy judging from their screech. Juho curses and throws more gusts towards them, but his abilities are limited in such a barren site.

“Seokwoo, see if you can get pass the fairies and find a way out,” Inseong commands. “We’ll slow them down.”

Seokwoo nods once and changes into a bird of prey, forgoing size for speed. He flies into the swarm but as he nears he realizes that they’ve stopped moving. They’re suspended in the air, motionless and silent. Must be one of Inseong’s spells. Seokwoo hardly feels anything when he collides into the fairies, they are so light that it feels like cotton balls are bouncing off him. As soon as he makes it pass the mass he sees it; a large opening in the wall near the actual ceiling.

He flies a short distance inside the tunnel to check that there’s no immediate threat and turns around to fly back down. The swarm had shrunk in size but now they’re surrounding a flailing Juho.

There’s no sign of Inseong anywhere. Only a layer of fallen leaves on the ground.

No… Not Inseong too.

“Argh!!”

Juho’s cry ignites the anger in Seokwoo’s chest. He’s sick of this stupid maze taking his friends one by one. He had kept his head to continue their pursuit but now they’ve taken Inseong and they’re trying to take Juho too? How _dare_ they.

He lets the flames of his fury consume him and transform his body as he rapidly descents. He is now a creature of rage and fire. A beast of immense strength and power. 

His body hits the ground with a heavy thump, his wings scattering the leaves.

He has turned into a dragon.

The despicable little creatures are still clinging onto Juho, infuriating Seokwoo further. So he gathers his rage in his chest. And he roars.

He roars with all his dragon might, letting his anger reverberates through the chamber. He wishes he has the energy for a fire display but his roar is enough to scamper the fairies.

Juho throws the last of the stubborn ones off of him and climbs onto Seokwoo’s back. “The fairies got Inseong. We have to go.”

Seokwoo cleaves the air in one powerful burst, effortlessly reaching their passage out in a flash. He flies in as far as he can go but they soon come to an archway that he can’t fit through and he lands heavily before it. Which is fine. He won’t be able to maintain this form for much longer anyway. And sure enough, as soon as Juho gets off him Seokwoo’s body changes almost involuntarily. He only realizes he’s back in his human form when his body starts to fall forward.

But Juho’s hands brace him before he can fall further. He gets pulled up and onto his feet but even with Juho propping him up by his arms Seokwoo’s knees buckle and Juho ends up embracing him instead, supporting him with his whole body.

Seokwoo sighs. “Sorry.” This is why he doesn’t like turning into anything as large and draining as a dragon. And being fuelled by anger didn’t help.

“It’s okay.” Juho runs his hand along Seokwoo’s back soothingly. “You’re okay.” Seokwoo feels his strength quickly returning to his limbs, and aided by the gentle touch he relaxes in Juho’s hold. Until he realizes what Juho must be doing.

“No, don’t.” Seokwoo grips Juho’s waist to push him back. “Save your energy.”

“But–”

“I’m okay. I don't need healing. Just need to catch my breath.” He lets go of Juho to proof his point, but Juho still holds his arms lightly.

“I can’t believe they got Inseong.” Seokwoo thought if anyone can get through the maze it’s Inseong. He was their biggest hope. And now they lost him too.

“Hey…” Juho leans down to meet Seokwoo’s downcast eyes. “He’ll be alright. As long as we get the feather, they will all be alright. So we can’t give up now, okay?” His grip on Seokwoo’s arms tightens, and Seokwoo finds the strength and confidence he needs in those grey eyes.

“When we get the feather, can we use it to destroy this place?”

Juho chuckles softly as he finally releases Seokwoo’s arms. “Of course. Anything you want.”

What Seokwoo wants is definitely not another blocked path. After numerous dead-ends they found a room that leads to a new path. But a great wall of glass is separating that room from the one they’re in. Juho leans close to the glass to peer into the other room before declaring that it’s empty and probably safe to venture through.

“Should we break this glass then?” Seokwoo reaches his hand towards the glass…

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading that long drabble(? can it even be called that?) until the end!
> 
> If you've read my previous drabbles in the series (i.e. if you're Molly) you might have realized this already but if you somehow just stumbled upon this work (thank you for checking it out) I'm here to let you know that this directly precedes the event in [Part 3](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26982268). A prequel, if you will.
> 
> I realize this universe is very self-indulgent and I'm sorry there's no further explanation or conclusion to this story, but you're welcomed to ask me anything in the comments! ♡


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